Suwon to Establish Personal Mobility Device Parking Areas and Stands from April to June Next Year

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City announced on the 2nd that it will establish parking areas and stands for 'Personal Mobility' (PM) devices such as electric kickboards to create a safe pedestrian environment.

Recently, an increasing number of citizens are experiencing inconvenience due to indiscriminate parking by growing users of personal mobility devices.

In response, the city has decided to create parking areas and stands to ensure citizen safety. Currently, five companies in Suwon operate approximately 2,000 shared electric kickboards.

From January to March next year, the city plans to investigate on-site conditions in areas with high usage of personal mobility devices and numerous complaints to review whether parking spaces can be secured.

After conducting the on-site investigation, the city will select locations for parking areas and stands, and plans to draw bicycle parking lines and install dedicated electric kickboard stands from April to June.

The city plans to install new dedicated stands primarily at locations where space can be secured, such as areas around subway stations, and where demand for electric kickboard usage is high, enabling seamless connections between public transportation and personal mobility devices.

For on-street areas with relatively low usage and limited space, the city plans to add notations stating 'personal mobility devices can be parked here' within existing bicycle parking lines to guide users to share spaces with bicycles.

After gathering opinions from citizens and the city council, the city will also review plans to charge rental companies for electric kickboard parking lines and dedicated stand usage fees.

An official from the city's Eco-Transportation Division said, "Recently, inconvenience caused by electric kickboards among citizens has increased," and "We will respond proactively for citizen safety and establish order in electric kickboard usage." The official added, "After establishing parking lines and stands, we will continuously inspect and decide whether to expand installations."